CHICAGO — A man charged with robbing a U.S. Postal Service mail carrier also robbed a UPS delivery driver before police caught up with him last year, according to a newly filed criminal complaint.
We first reported on David Atwater when prosecutors accused him of robbing a female postal worker in the 11500 block of South May. Officials said he entered the woman’s postal truck on October 4 with a hand in his pocket and said, “This is a robbery. Don’t move. Where’s the phones at? You move, I shoot.”
He took three packages from the truck and fled on a scooter, officials said. The mail carrier recognized him because he lives on her route. She even found him on Facebook and saw a picture of him wearing the same mint green sweater he wore during the robbery, prosecutors alleged.
Atwater has been in jail since November 27 on those charges.
Now, prosecutors say Atwater is also the guy who robbed a UPS delivery driver on November 23. Around 3:30 that afternoon, the courier was walking to a home in the 11500 block of South Elizabeth when a man pulled up in an SUV and confronted him.
“I’m going to shoot you,” the man allegedly threatened, while holding his hand in his hoodie pocket as if he had a gun. “Just walk to the back of the truck.”
The robber demanded phones, but the 51-year-old victim said he didn’t know which boxes contained phones.
“Don’t say anything. I’ll kill you right here,” Atwater allegedly warned. “Now give me the phones.”
The driver ultimately gave Atwater a couple of random boxes so he would go away, a CPD report said. Like the postal worker, the UPS driver also recognized Atwater, according to prosecutors.
A CPD report said the UPS driver had a security officer working with him that day, but the guard left “momentarily,” giving the robber a chance to strike.
Judge Ankur Srivastava ordered Atwater to continue to be detained on the new charges.
Original reporting you’ll see nowhere else, paid for by our readers. Click here to support our work.
